The sedative held him in a half?dead state, where sound reached him before thought. A clamp clicked somewhere near his ribs. The vibration traveled through the table and into his spine, or whatever remained of it. His eyelids refused to lift. His mouth stitched open with coarse thread, remained open all of this time, the alchemists used it to introduce the invading organism hung open because the muscles no longer answered him. Strangely, once it entered, it blocked the entrance of the liquid into his body.

  A feeling pressed against the back of his neck. The pressure didn’t feel like skin. It dragged slightly, as if coated in something that hadn’t dried. The feeling was changing on its own internally, adjusted his head, pushing it to one side until the weight of his skull settled into a cradle.

  A few days went by, inside of him things started to change unknowingly. A hardening bone structure was going on around his shoulders. The cold of hardened bones spread across his collarbones, a chill that wouldn't stop. He tried to shift the feeling somewhere else, but the straps across his chest held firm. The restraints didn’t allow him to move. Against his will, he could simply stay idle, unable to move.

  A hiss rose near his lower back. The sound carried a faint chemical bite or a reaction to a rash. He had the feeling something wet touched the skin above his pelvis. The liquid spread in a slow circle, and the temperature dropped fast enough to make the muscles along his sides twitch. While all of this was happening inside the cylinder, the alchemist was there watching GR1M1 twist against something inside him. He had no idea they had injected in hum, just to see the result to the question of What would happen if?!

  The next couple of days, while GR1M1 was still awake, he was taken to the table and strapped. The alchemist began an incision that came without warning. Not a slice, more like a steady pressure that deepened until the tissue parted. The sensation didn’t stay on the surface. It traveled inward, following the path of the tool. His breath caught in his throat, but the sedative kept his lungs from reacting fully.

  Hands worked inside him. He couldn’t see them, but he felt the movement. A tug. A shift. A dull scrape against bone. The table vibrated again as a device activated, sending a low hum through his ribs. Giving him an idea of where they were poking and trying to experiment on to see the appropriate reaction of the nerves in that particular area. It looked disgusting for weaker stomachs. Even one of the alchemist left at such scene, as it couldn't bear it any longer

  There it was, the alien organism showed it was alive by moving deeper. The parasite pressed against the inner wall of his back. It didn’t slide. It pushed in short, deliberate motions, as if testing the space. Heat radiated from it. The warmth spread along the exposed nerves, and the nerves fired in uneven bursts. The alchemist saw in real time how it moved in the bone structure like a worm inside the bone that kept on expanding little by little.

  The alchemists adjusted the creature’s path. One of them guided it with a tool that clicked each time it repositioned. The clicks echoed inside his skull. Each adjustment sent a pulse through his spine, a pulse that traveled up to the base of his skull and down into what was left of his spinal cortex.

  What was left of the temporary legs about to perish once again jerked. Not by choice. The parasite reacted to the movement, tightening around the bone they had reintroduced. The pressure increased until his thigh bones seized. The restraints around his ankles held him in place, but served no use physically.

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  After the traumatic entering of their knives, a day went by with another tool entering the cavity of the spine. This one vibrated at a higher pitch. The vibration reached the parasite, and the creature responded with a slow expansion. The expansion pressed against the nerves along his lower back. The nerves fired again, harder this time, sending a sharp signal through his abdomen.

  The alchemists spoke to each other in short bursts. Their words didn’t reach GR1M1 clearly. Only the rhythm. Quick. Focused. One of them leaned closer, as he felt his rough breathing in the back of his neck. The shift of air near his cheek carried the scent of metal and something faintly sweet, like a chemical used to preserve tissue.

  A hand lifted part of his spine. He felt the weight of it leave his body. The absence created a hollow sensation that spread through his torso. The parasite moved into the empty space. Its surface brushed against the exposed bone. The contact produced a deep, internal pressure that made his vision pulse behind his closed eyes. And the parasite reconstructed the cut part of the spine, building and improving what was missing.

  They lowered the reconstructed section back into him. The bone touched the parasite, and the creature reacted instantly. It wrapped around the structure with a slow, deliberate grip. The grip tightened until the bone settled into place, melting into the new piece of bone . The pressure radiated outward, reaching the muscles along his sides.

  A needle entered the base of his skull. The insertion was slow. The pressure built until it reached the center of his head. His jaw clenched on its own. The alchemist adjusted the angle, and the pressure shifted toward the back of his throat.

  They opened his skull again. He didn’t see it, but the cold air reached the exposed tissue. The temperature drop sent a wave through his scalp. The parasite responded to the change, sending a faint tremor through his spine.

  Hands nerves moved inside his head. They adjusted nerves connected to his arms. Each adjustment sent a signal down his limbs. His fingers curled. An elbow twitched. The shoulder lifted a fraction before the restraints stopped it. As if his whole bone structure was analyzing its own structure and changing to adapt the needs of the creature’s.

  The alchemists paused when the youngest entered. Her steps were lighter than the others. The sound of her boots didn’t match the heavy rhythm of the rest. She approached the head alchemist, and the room shifted around her. The others straightened. Their movements sharpened. GR1M1 was curious as to why was she important, to be able to stand next to the head alchemist and everyone to be so focused on her. He found out of her gender by the sound of her voice and way the steps sounded like.

  GR1M1 sensed the shift only through sound and pressure. The air changed when she stood near him. A faint scent reached him, something clean, sharper than the chemicals. The head alchemist moved closer to her, his steps slower than before.

  None of it mattered to GR1M1. His awareness drifted between the pressure in his spine and the movement inside his skull. The parasite continued to adjust itself. Each motion sent a new signal through his nerves. Some signals reached his legs. Others reached his arms. A few traveled upward, settling behind his eyes.

  The sedative began to thin. The edges of the room sharpened. The hum of the machinery being used grew louder. The pressure in his back intensified as the parasite continued its integration the following days. It felt as if the creature was testing each nerve connected to the bones, one by one.

  His throat tightened. A sound escaped him before he could stop it. The word formed without intention.

  “Why…” in a language he didn't know he could speak… yet the alchemists surrounding him looked as if understood, but it didn't seem like their language either…

  The tool in the closest alchemist’s hand slipped. It hit the floor with a sharp clatter. The others turned toward him. Their footsteps shifted. Their breathing changed. The room held still for a moment.

  GR1M1 realized they had understood him. The awareness settled in his chest like a weight he couldn’t move. He didn’t know if this attention meant anything good. He couldn’t move enough to react. The parasite continued its slow, deliberate work inside him.

  “???????? ??? ???????... ?????? ???? ?? ???????? ?? ?????? ?? ??? ?? ?????????...”

  “Monsters are mirrors... showing only the darkness we refuse to see in ourselves...”

  How was it??